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The Boonta Eve Classic

  The next morning, Harry, along with his mother, who was as nervous as always, and his new friends were among the first to eagerly arrive at the track, shortly after the twin sons of the planet rose above the horizon.

  As they entered the bay where the race organizers had set aside space for the ships to be stored overnight and last-minute work could be done on the podracers, Harry couldn't help but smile, excited at the opportunity to race in the Boonta Eve Classic.

  Looking across the pit, Harry saw several podracers that also appeared to have been left here overnight, as his had been, and recognized several of the podracer designs as those belonging to Ben Quadinaros and Clegg Holdfast, among the handful of ships that were unfamiliar to him. Those he assumed belonged to podracers that had been drawn to Tatooine due to the promise of the prize for the race which frankly Harry thought was outrageous.

  As Harry counted the eight ships that had been stored overnight, he was sure that the number of ships in this bay would at least double by the time the race started.

  Seeing his craft, which looked impressively sleek, if undersized, compared to the other racers, a fact which Harry was positive would have been the case even if he had not been able to remove most of the protective shielding around the engine and other delicate components on the ship, Harry smiled.

  Harry started walking over to his podracer, intent on making sure R2D2 hadn't had any trouble watching over his ship during the night but had barely taken two steps when he felt the large hand of Qui-Gon on his shoulder stopping him and causing him to spin around.

  "Are you ready, Anakin?" He asked, staring.

  Harry nodded, wordlessly, eyes intense and unblinking.

  Qui-Gon smiled, "That is good. I feel … something significant is approaching … but no worries I am pretty sure it is unrelated to the race … remember to trust your instincts and I have no doubt you will win this."

  Padme stepped up beside the Jedi and smiled at Harry, "We will be cheering for you Ani … all our hope rests with you." She said, shooting a quick glare to Qui-Gon. "However … after seeing you yesterday in the podracer, I am confident you can do it …" She paused and let her smile slowly creep back onto her face, easing the seriousness of the conversation. " … just remember not to stall your engines, right off the start … that might just be a little embarrassing, especially in front of the huge crowd." She finished with a laugh.

  Harry looked to the ground for a second before looking up and smiling at her, "I'll be careful. Won't make that mistake … again." He finished as he chuckled.

  She began to turn to look towards Qui-Gon but Harry continued, "For what it's worth, I will win this race. I won't let you down. I know how important this is to you … to your group."

  Padme looked at Harry intensely and several seconds passed before she nodded her head in gratitude.

  Qui-Gon nodded as well and smiled, "I know you won't. Thanks for taking this risk, Anakin. Now …" he paused to quickly glance at Harry's mother before looking back to Harry, " … now I'm going to head off to find Watto and … have a brief chat with him about … we; no need to worry about that. But I'll take Jar Jar, so he doesn't end up getting into any trouble down here. One less thing for you to worry about."

  Jar Jar began to protest but Qui-Gon cut him off and indicated that they were leaving to find Watto.

  With an unhappy harrumph, Jar Jar turned to follow him, in the process accidentally knocking over an entire tray of tools and parts which had been sitting on a bench behind him, causing Mars Guo's pit team to run over frantically yelling at the accident-prone Gungan, before Qui-Gon separated the individuals from Jar Jar and physically grabbed him around the shoulders and dragged him off.

  Harry was once more about to head off to R2D2 before he caught the expression his mother was giving him, "Please be careful Ani. You know how much I worry. I'm so proud of what you have been able to accomplish but I long for the days when I never have to watch you take risks like this."

  He opened his mouth to respond but she cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I know, I know. This is for a good cause …" She paused and nodded at Padme, " … and honestly I am glad he is able to help and beyond proud as his mother of what he is doing … but that doesn't stop a mother from worrying."

  She turned and nodded her head towards Harry, "And don't even think of suggesting that I just stay home and avoid watching. You know I can't. I've watched every time you have raced and nothing worse than a bump on your head has ever happened to you. There is no way I could just stay at home … I'd just be a pile of nerves … and if something was to happen …"

  Harry laughed and embraced her. "Don't worry, even I know I could never win that argument and convince you to not be here … besides I kind of enjoy you being here, you are pretty much my good luck charm."

  This caused his mother to smile and fully embrace him, before releasing him and taking a step back, a big smile still evident on her face.

  "Well ... I'll let you take a look at your racer. Good luck Ani."

  With that she turned and headed off in the direction that Qui-Gon, with Jar Jar in tow, had left minutes before, leaving Padme and Harry behind.

  Smiling at Padme, Harry pointed in the direction of his podracer, "Well I better go check on the podracer. Want to make sure it and your droid are alright, and nothing happened during the night … you can come with me if you want."

  Seeing her nod, Harry led his way towards the pit he had been assigned for his podracer, weaving his way through the mess that occupied the space between him and the pit.

  When they finally arrived, Harry greeted R2D2 who excitedly welcomed the two of them and let them know that other than one pit droid who stopped by to borrow a hydrospanner, no one else had come close to the podracer and there had been nothing out of ordinary to report.

  Harry nodded, "Thanks R2 for spending the night with the podracer … not that I was worried about Jar Jar … but I am glad it was you and not him."

  R2D2 beeped excitedly as it bounced back and forth between its legs.

  However, a voice from behind Harry surprised him and caused him to spin around.

  "Shoorra jakaal ka'ssik! Pathetic child. Your racer looks as pathetic as that malfunctioning droid in front of you. You can't be serious about entering that piece of garbage."

  Harry completed his turn and nodded at the familiar form of Sebulba. "Good morning, Sebulba." Harry replied ignoring the Durg's insults. "Ready for the race?"

  The Durg spat on the ground in front of him. "Rrash kasska rish! Your ship won't even make it out of the starting gate and if it did I bet it wouldn't survive an accidental bump."

  Harry shook his head, "So then why are you here Sebulba? Come to check out the competition."

  Sebulba shook his head violently staring at Harry, "Your ship? Competition? It's not even worth trying to …" he paused to look down at the hydrospanner that he was carrying in his hand which he had kept partially hidden behind him, before looking up to Harry, " … to view your ship and find out its weaknesses. Its weakness is you, little slave boy."

  Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Padme's face harden as she took a half step forward.

  Smiling to himself, Harry gently put his hand on her forearm, to stop anything from happening, before looking back to Sebulba.

  Slowly and purposefully, Harry lowered his vision to the tool in Sebulba's hand, making sure the Durg knew that he saw it, before looking back up at him, "Well … Sebulba, I guess since my podracer is not worth … inspecting … perhaps you'll leave us alone. I'm sure there are other ships you'll want to … inspect … before the race. Maybe others you think are actually competition. Need to make sure you have the advantage after all. Don't want the embarrassment of a loss after all …"

  Harry smiled seeing the rage cross Sebulba's face and as the Durg took a step towards him, Harry tilted his head slightly indicating the Gamorrean guards that were littered through the bay to prevent pre-race emotions from escalating.

  Seeing the Durg stop in his tracks, Harry turned to Padme, ignoring the spew of Durgish insults, and guided her to his podracer, R2D2 following slightly behind them.

  Arriving at his podracer, Padme looked over her shoulder, a look of concern on her face, "Aren't you a little worried about what he might do Ani?"

  Harry shrugged his shoulders. "The fact that he let me see the hydrospanner in his hand shows he doesn't actually think of me as a serious threat in the race. He might have come over, planning to sabotage my podracer, but apparently, he doesn't think my podracer is worth the effort. And with the Gamorreans in the pit he wouldn't start an actual fight here. The race means too much to him."

  Padme looked at him shocked, "How can you be so relaxed about that?"

  Harry smiled, "Well I'm confident in my chances and my podracer, but more importantly, I'm doing this for something, for someone … you and Qui-Gon. I know there is a lot on the line and I won't fail. Not sure what my life will be like but I won't let you down. I meant what I said before, I promise that I'm going to win this race."

  Padme stared at him for almost a full minute, appraising him more intensely than previously, before finally smiling, "Thanks Ani … I mean it. I really do … the Queen really does."

  Looking over to R2D2 she said, "Well I better head back to meet up with Qui-Gon, I think I remember the directions to the box he said we'd be sitting in with Watto." Turning back to Harry, she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe look over the ship once more with R2, just to make sure that Durg didn't do anything while you weren't looking … better safe than sorry."

  With that she turned and headed off towards the stands that he had watched Qui-Gon head off to previously, leaving R2D2 and Harry behind watching her go.

  When she disappeared from sight up the stairs, Harry looked to R2D2 and nodded as made their way over to the podracer, recognizing the wisdom in her words, performed a complete check of the podracer to ensure that no 'accidental sabotage' had occurred.

  Fifteen minutes later, Harry climbed to his feet and wiped of the dust, smiling to himself seeing that the podracer was in perfect condition.

  Deciding there was nothing else pressing to do, and hearing the sounds of other podracers staring up, Harry jumped into the cockpit and began the prerace engine shakedown to confirm everything was in good working condition and to warm up the engines so they'd be able to run optimally right as soon as the race started.

  - HP – SW – HP –SW - HP – SW - HP – SW - HP – SW –

  Over the past hour Harry had completed the engine shakedown and all final checks, and he was confident that his podracer was ready to go. A sentiment he shared, as he found himself almost bouncing in his seat in the cockpit of the podracer, the anticipation of the Boonta Eve Classic coursing through him like a current.

  As Harry looked around him, he felt the familiar hum of the engines and the scent of engine exhaust enveloped him heightening his focus.

  However, he froze, as a dark foreboding presence caught his attention. As Harry's eyes scanned the crowd, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sensation, he was surprised when they landed on … a probe droid, floating off by itself at the edge of the pit.

  Harry shook his head in confusion. He had certainly felt the imprint of an owners emotions or intentions on droids before, especially ones that had been in their possession for a while and especially if strong emotions. But these feelings were always significantly muted compared to the emotions from the actual person, as if hearing a faint echo from far away. But as Harry stared at the droid he felt feelings of hate and anger as strong … stronger than any such emotions he had felt from a flesh and blood individual before.

  Harry's brow furrowed as he stared at the droid, confident that the feelings were indeed from the droid. As he continued staring at the droid, he noticed that the droid seemed to be scanning the crowd rather than the track or the podracers as the other probe droids in the area were.

  A feeling of ice gripped Harry as he wondered if whatever misfortune that had happened to Qui-Gon and Padme and their group on Naboo had managed to follow them here.

  Harry shook off the chills along his spine and stood up in the cockpit of his podracer. Looking towards the box he knew Qui-Gon, Padme, and the others were in, he began to wave and capture their attention. After a second, he saw the figures of Kitster and Jar Jar began waving back, likely assuming that Harry was waving to say hello.

  This caused Harry to grit his teeth in annoyance as he kept waving, relieved when eventually he saw Qui-Gon and Padme make their way to the edge of their box, looking at him.

  Seeing all their eyes on him, Harry stopped his waving and began pointing and gesturing in the direction of the probe droid.

  However, before they began to follow his pointing, expressions of concern filled their faces as they began waving frantically, pointing above him. This caused Harry to look up and see the countdown had begun and in all his excitement he had not heard the countdown noises or the announcer calling out.

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  Knowing he had done all he could at the moment, Harry dropped to his seat and began struggling with his harness. In fact he had just finished buckling the safety harness as he heard the gong sound out signaling the start of the race.

  With the excitement of the last few moments, Harry reached out aggressively for the throttle … only remembering at the last moment the need to not push it fully down, narrowly averting an embarrassing start to the race.

  As he slowly pushed the throttle his podracer jumped off the starting line and joined all of the other podracers as they sped away from the stands.

  As he gained distance from the starting line, he felt his concern about the dark presence of the probe droid dissolve into the roar of engine sounds and the chaotic energy that accompanied every single podrace's opening moments, knowing that he had done all he could and as such it was up to the others to hopefully decipher his intended meaning and the best way he could get back to help was to finish this race as soon as possible.

  Nodding his head and pushing aside the lingering unease, Harry channeled his concentration into the race as the podracers surged forward, relying on his reflexes and feelings to steer and avoid the small obstacles that littered the opening section of the race and the other racers, whose podracers all seemed to tower over his own.

  However, slowly Harry found himself slowly but surely gaining ground on the two racers currently jockeying for the lead, smiling to himself as he had managed to close the distance so quickly.

  Unfortunately, before he could attempt to overtake Sebulba and Gasgano while they were distracted with each other, Harry saw the bend in the track signifying the next leg of the course which was comprised of flying through tight rocky canyons without much room to maneuver.

  As they approached the rocky canyons, Harry had found that he had closed the distance but as expected he was a little more than a hair breadth behind where he knew he had needed to be in order to attempt passing the two frontrunners. As such he settled into third place as they entered the canyons, knowing that had he tried to jump into the lead for this section, his podracer certainly would have been clipped and he would have spun into one of the canyon walls. And while his podracer might have survived the collision even at these speeds thanks to the enchantments he had put on it, he was fairly certain there would not be enough left of him to even began to identify.

  As such he settled comfortably into place behind the two and carefully navigated through the section of the race, keeping close to second place Sebulba, but far enough that he knew he would have enough time to react, even in the confined space, should Sebulba try something.

  When they burst out of the canyons onto the next section of the race, Harry found himself still in third, but he felt that they had likely put some space between them and the next racers, especially as Harry had heard at least two explosions echoing through the canyon before they exited, indicating the race was over for at least two competitors.

  Flying onto the next leg of the course Harry looked over the dunes, knowing that this section of the race relied as much on strategy and quick reflexes as it did on sheer dumb luck, as the dunes for the most part were stable and allowed the racers to pass over them safely, especially during the first lap, but as more racers went over the dunes the heat and winds would result in dunes collapsing without warning, either burying racers completely or creating sinkholes that the podracer would disappear into without being able to escape, only to be completely buried when another dune collapsed.

  As he had predicted, this early in the race, Harry managed to navigate his way through the section with ease, smiling to himself as he overtook Sebulba in this segment.

  As the race continued, Harry couldn't help but be impressed with Gasgano's ability to pilot his podracer, as he seemed to be able to react almost exactly as Harry attempted a move, no doubt aided by his extra limbs but to Harry it seemed there was slightly more that explained the extremely competent manner in which he handled his podracer.

  Due to this Harry found himself still found himself in second place, halfway through the second lap, still not having been able to find an opportunity to pass, for indeed Gasgano had flown an almost perfect race to that point.

  However, as Harry entered the dunes, which ran through Tusken Raider Territory, he almost froze up in the cockpit of his podracer as his senses were bombarded with multiple feelings of danger.

  The easiest to identify was the feeling of anger coming from behind him, without even turning around Harry was confident that it was Sebulba trying to make his sixth or seventh attempt to overtake the two frontrunners, as each previous attempt had failed so far and Harry had started to suspect that the Durg was getting frustrated and was likely soon to attempt something dangerous … ad likely illegal, even in this podrace which had few rules on what was allowed or not allowed in the first place.

  The second sensation was fainter and seemed to come from the top of the cliffs up ahead, that ran parallel to this section of the race. This feeling stumped Harry for almost a complete second as they approached the cliffs before he was a flash of light reflecting off a metal surface up there and realized there were likely Tusken Raiders which had moved into position up there and were preparing their weapons to shoot at the approaching podracers.

  Therealization had barely made its way out of his head before he watched several short beams of light head out towards Gasgano's podracer, harmlessly embedding themselves into the sand several pod lengths behind the Xexto pilot and his craft.

  At that moment Harry felt the risk from Sebulba dramatically increase and choosing to trust his feelings Harry swung his podracer to the side out of caution and watched … as some sort of projectile missile flew by, exploding harmlessly at the base of the cliff.

  Using Harry's evasion to his advantage the Durg shot up from behind Harry and managed to get parallel to him, as he looked over he saw the Durg pilot laughing, before he waved at Harry. He then grabbed hold of his steering controls with two hands and swerved his much larger podracer right at Harry's, no doubt in an attempt to crush the smaller racer …

  However, thanks to Harry's enchantments before the race, his podracer was simply bumped aside due to the collision with the much larger podracer but remained completely undamaged.

  As Harry corrected the path of his racer he looked over to Sebulba and laughed as he waved at the stunned looking Durg, who was staring in shock at the still intact podracer.

  All of a sudden Harry felt a feeling of … danger and looked up just in time to move his head as a small piece of metal flew by the recently evacuated space and bounced harmlessly off his headrest. Harry looked in the direction that the piece of metal had come from and watched as Gasgano's podracer, which had gained some significant ground during his and Sebulba's interactions, and had almost left that segment of the course, wobble and a small black stream of smoke was emitted from the left engine before abruptly being cut off.

  Looking to his right he saw that Sebulba had recovered from his shock and was swinging towards Harry even more aggressively this time …

  This collision was no more effective at destroying his engines and other than shaking every bone in his body the only thing that came out of the 'accidentally on purpose' collision was that Harry's podracer once more shot off course, this time by about twenty pod lengths.

  Harry watched as Sebulba once more stared in shock at the intact podracer that Harry managed to righten. Evidently deciding that the collisions were not doing anything Sebulba turned back to the track and used the separation he gained between them to enter the next section of the course, the geyser fields, slightly ahead of Harry, who calmly settled into position right behind the Durg, seeing on one of the gauges that he had used a little under a third of his fuel and as soon as they reached the open grounds in the next section, he was going to push his engines to the max and just swing wide.

  As they erupted from the geyser fields, Harry started to shift his podracer out of Sebulba's shadow as he noticed that Gasgano was only just crossing the finish line completing his second lap, a sight which was both a relief to Harry, as it meant it was less ground to make up than he had thought there was between them, and confusing as he was pretty sure Gasgano should be farther ahead of where he currently was.

  Shrugging his shoulders at his apparent good fortune, Harry refocused back on the open ground in front of him pushing his engines to full, causing him to shoot forward with such acceleration his head bounced off the headrest.

  Turning his head slightly he laughed at the surprised expression on Sebulba's face, clearly not expecting that maneuver, as Harry jumped very quickly past him, allowing him to complete the second lap, well ahead of Sebulba, for the final lap.

  As Harry exited the rocky canyon and looked out onto the section of the unstable dunes he felt an immediate twinge of warning from well ahead of him. This gave him a second of pause as he had not even entered the dunes yet. Although as he looked up and squinted his eyes against the light reflecting off the sand, he noticed that Gasgano's pod was part way up a dune and his engine was once again emitting a line of black smoke, much thicker than it had been before, although it appeared he was barely moving along the dune.

  As Harry stared he saw that the reason for the lack of movement was that the entire dune seemed to be collapsing at the same speed the Xexto pilot was travelling on it and a sinkhole was forming below him.

  Harry watched for an additional second as he maneuvered his pdracer towards a different dune that looked and felt safe to him, confident that the Xexto pilot was effectively out of the race, however, even with the engine troubles the racer was not in much danger, escaping the quagmire he found himself in would just require him to use most of his remaining fuels to get out of the danger he was in.

  However, he had barely looked back ahead of before he felt the little fraction of a concerning sensation and heard a slight whining sound, which he remembered hearing the last time Sebulba had launched a projectile at him. Although judging by the muted sense of danger Harry was confident the attack was going to miss. And as Harry looked around and saw the incoming missile, he saw that he was correct and the Durg had likely fired the missile in desperation upon exiting the rocky canyons, before seeing that Harry was altering his course to the other dune.

  As such, he watched the missile pass several pod lengths behind him. Shifting to look out the side of his podracer he stared in horror seeing the missile impact with the top of the dune that Gasgano was already struggling to escape from, causing an immediate avalanche of sand … one that Harry was fairly confident the Xexto would have no way of escaping.

  Harry stared for one additional second before knowing he had to do something, with an exasperated sigh he slammed his weight onto the steering column and shot off the top of the dune and started heading towards Gasgano's podracer. Taking a moment to look behind him as he descended the dune, he saw Sebulba start along the crest of the same dune he had been travelling across and even though he was far away, Harry was pretty sure he could see Sebulba laughing.

  Harry shook his anger at the Durg as he reached into his pants pocket and slowly withdrew his secret weapon that he had hesitantly brought with him this morning … just in case something was to happen in the race … something such as this.

  Slowly the fifteen inches of elder wood with a thestral tail hair core came into view. The first time Harry had held the wand in his hand outside of his room or the courtyard while he had been enchanting the podracer.

  Trusting his senses, without looking back, Harry aimed to a place just below the lip of the dune that Sebulba had not yet gotten to and firmly called out …

  Bombarda Maxima!

  Harry smiled feeling the familiar sensation of magic go through his arm and exit out the wand.

  Even without looking, Harry felt oddly confident that his spell would connect with the dune, exactly where he pictured it would, and give something for Sebulba to deal with while he went off to save Gasgano.

  With that thought in mind making him smile, Harry leaned back over his controls as his podracer reached the bottom of the dune and leveled out on the flat ground, shooting towards the sinkhole that Gasgano's podracer was heading towards with increased speed.

  Quickly deciding on a course of action, which he felt would be most likely to succeed, Harry shifted his steering column to head towards the other side of the sinkhole and collapsing dune, therefore approaching Gasgano's podracer from behind.

  Harry held his breath as his podracer finished skirting the edge of the sinkhole which appeared to have grown and felt as his podracer rocked slightly as he started climbing up the inclined face of the rapidly collapsing dune.

  Harry almost let out a smile as he noticed he was getting close to the struggling podracer, when he saw a small explosion happen on the engine which had furiously been emitting smoke. Without that engine, all power was instantly transferred to the other engine which caused it to become overpowered and burnt out all the components, effectively shutting it down, but not before it spun the pod racer ninety degrees, resulting in it facing directly into the sinkhole, less than five pod lengths in front of it and getting closer with each passing moment.

  Knowing he had no time to implement his original plan, Harry once more raised his wand, holding it over the wind in the podracer and shouted, Depulso. He watched as the overpowered banishing charm flew true and collided with the side of the powerless podracer.

  For a second, the podracer seemed to absorb the spell instead of reacting, but then it roughly shot away from Harry, as if violently pushed, flying towards the level ground at the edge of the dune.

  Seeing it heading to safety, away from the danger of the sinkhole, Harry put the wand back in his pocket and leaned over the controls noticing that his approach had left him much closer to the edge of the sinkhole than he had planned or would have under other circumstance felt comfortable with.

  However, Harry smiled to himself as he pressed the thrust forward to full, feeling the podracer seem to hang in space for a moment before it shot up the face of the collapsing dune, overjoyed he had been able to take off the additional weight as judging by the speed at which the sand was shifting, he was pretty sure a heavier podracer wouldn't have been able to escape the collapsing done and had he tried it he would be buried in the sinkhole at that moment.

  As Harry finished summiting the now mostly collapsed dune, escaping the cascading sand which had tried to trap both Gasgano and himself, Harry flew by Gasgano who was sitting on the front of his podracer staring intently at Harry as he flew by.

  But Harry was out of the dunes before he could do more than acknowledge the Xexto pilot with a slight wave, although he did notice that he couldn't see Sebulba's pod still in that section and he doubted he was lucky enough that Sebulba currently found himself half buried in the dune. As such he leaned forward over his controls once more and pushed them again to maximum as he began weaving his way through the remaining obstacles, pushing to catch up to the Durg who had gained ground while Harry had diverted his pod to help the Xexto.

  To his relief he caught site of the Durg finishing the next section as he arrived and by the time they finished the second last section of the race, the geyser fields, Harry had pulled within a pods length. A distance which quickly faded to nothing as he pulled even with Sebulba as they started the last section of the race, the flat desert plains which led to the finish line, just in sight, far in the distance.

  As Harry felt his pod starting to inch past the Durg, he looked up in response to a twinge of unease from the direction of Sebulba's podracer and saw an incredibly angry Durg swinging his podracer towards Harry's.

  Harry braced himself for the collision, simply waving and smiling to the Durg as his ship once again survived the impact from the much heavier podracer, watching as the angry Durg separated himself once again and prepared to take another run at Harry's podracer.

  Seeing the look in Sebulba's eyes Harry looked back down at his instrument panel, smiling when he saw he still had just under a third of his total fuel reserve, including almost the entire emergency thrust tank.

  Looking back to Sebulba he gave him a mock salute and waved at the Durg, which had its desired effect as it seemed to infuriate him even more, and resulted in him swinging his podracer once more recklessly towards Harry's.

  Seeing that Sebulba had fully committed he quickly pushed the throttle to maximum and triggered the button for the emergency thrusters, smiling as time seemed to slow down as he was pushed back into his seat.

  Glancing to the side, Harry watched as the front end of Sebulba's podracer crept closer and closer … but with each passing moment Harry's podracer seemed to pull further and further forward out of danger. However as he watched his podracer incher out of danger he froze, watching the front end of Sebulba's podracer as it approached his.

  Oh no … did I miscalculate …

  The thought ran through Harry's mind, knowing that a collision with the back end of his podracer would almost certainly end the race for him as while it wouldn't damage the pod it would at least spin him around, but more likely send him spinning out of control.

  As such, even though he knew it was likely pointless, Harry leaned forward to try to reduce the drag his body was creating and pushed the already maxed out thruster controls, holding his breath … and …

  The smallest of jolts could be felt through the craft as Sebulba's podracer glanced the back end of his racer.

  Harry smiled to himself as he easily corrected the slight disruption of his path, before glancing back, easily spotting Sebulba's podracer spinning wildly out of control before starting to roll uncontrollably off to the side of the course.

  Looking back to the front of his podracer, Harry had just enough time to notice the stands as he flew across the finish line, holding up one hand in celebration as he cut power to the engines.

  It was quiet for several seconds before the entire stadium erupted into cheering, the voice of the announcer barely reaching above the noise.

  "And there you have it, fans! You've witnessed history, literally the upset of the century. You've just watched the youngest racer to ever win the Boonta Eve Classic … any major podracing event … and it was a human no less … I'm just beside myself … This year's Boonta Eve Classic Champion … Anakin Skywalker!"

  Kind Regards,

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